Detergent compositions, such as laundry or dish detergents, and including liquids, gels, and powders, are dosed into washing machines based upon the size of the load or the degree of soil on the items to be washed. Consumers often rely on dosing indicia in the interior of a lid or dosing cup to measure the proper amount of detergent composition for a given wash cycle. However, the dosing indicia on the interior of the dosing cup or lid is often difficult to see. Moreover, the consumer may be rushed or may not be particularly careful in measuring the proper dose of detergent composition. As a result, the user may not dose enough detergent composition into a wash cycle, or the user may add more detergent composition than is needed for a particular wash cycle. Consequently, the items to be washed may be insufficiently cleaned or the detergent composition may be consumed at a faster rate than necessary. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a dosing cup that allows a user to quickly and easily measure the proper dose of detergent composition.
Dosing cups having windows to view the liquid from the interior or exterior of the cup do exist. However, such windows may be formed of a separate material from the remaining dose cup, and, thus, may leak at the seams of the window. In addition, some dosing windows are so large in size relative to the size of the dosing cup as a whole and also relative to any dosing indicium on the dosing cup that it takes time for a user to focus in on the dosing indicium while measuring a dose of detergent.
Different ways to fill and measure detergent compositions into dosing cups exist. For example, some consumers may hold the dosing cup with one hand and pour the detergent composition from a container held in the opposite hand. Other users may hold the dosing cup in one hand and dispense a detergent composition from a dispensing system that is stationary on a rigid surface, such as a countertop. In these different situations, consumers may measure the desired dose of detergent composition in different ways depending upon which method the user intuitively finds more appropriate in the given situation. For example, some consumers may measure the detergent composition by viewing the interior of the dosing cup, while other consumers may measure the detergent composition by viewing the exterior of the dosing cup. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a dosing cup that allows a user to measure a dose of detergent composition from the interior and exterior of the dosing cup.
In addition, some consumers may use the dosing cup to pretreat soiled items, such as clothes. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide spreading or scrubbing elements to assist the user in pretreating soiled clothing. It may also be beneficial to provide a dosing cup that is ergonomically configured to perform multiple functions.